by L. M. Roth
Loana had come from Annick, bringing young Pierrick with her, a fact which caused Nolwenn much consternation. The youth was prepared to follow her around all night and sought every opportunity to engage her in conversation. But Nolwenn evaded him with the dexterity of a fox, and Dirk was amused to see his little sister flee before the ardor of her would be suitor.
It was one of the few light moments of the evening. Clouds were gathering overhead, threatening to bring rain to hinder the celebration. And it would not be a bad thing if you asked Dirk. He did not like the glances that came his father’s way from the women, headed by Niamh and Enora, who was openly baleful in the glares she cast in Dag’s direction.
Dag seemed oblivious to their hostility and kept an eye out for Kyrene. She circled the gathering, giving the appearance of mingling with the villagers, but in reality taking a reading of their intentions as she listened to their scattered conversations. Occasionally she shot a look at Dag, and inclined her head toward this man or that woman, as if to give warning; or so it appeared to Dirk.
Maelys did not join in the festivities but walked the perimeter with Lucius, who kept her close to his side, as if to guard her from hidden danger. Judoc and Brit joined a group of the women with an attempt at community spirit. But even from this distance Dirk caught the averted gazes and the furtive glances exchanged when Judoc was not aware.
And he knew then for certain that some plot was afoot. He caught the eye of Dag and jerked his head toward the women around Judoc. Dag nodded his head slowly and waited for the women to make their move.
One of the young men advanced to the center of the green, bearing a large drum, and as he came into view the others around him scattered. He began to bang on the drum, and the sound made Dirk shudder. This was not the usual drum used for dancing and celebration; it had a deep and ominous boom that sounded like a summons to war.
For Niamh, it was the signal she had waited for. She walked defiantly into the center of the green and raised her arms slowly over her head. All eyes turned their gaze upon her, and Dag was ready.
“Ainah!” she cried out. “We welcome you to our celebration. Come and grace your summer festival with your presence. We summon you to join us; for we owe our lives to you, great Mother. Enter, we say, enter!”
“No!” Dag shouted as he strode to the center of the green where Niamh stood with upraised arms.
Her glare was venomous but he did not care. He returned her glower with an icy one of his own. They stood with their eyes dueling silently, hands clenched into fists.
And then they all heard it. The pacing began, but this time it was not back and forth. It came with a slow and steady purpose, and it came from beyond the walled gate, advancing with each step.
Every eye turned to the gate, waiting with drawn breath.
Suddenly a boom heaved the gate and those near it insisted they saw the gate move as if battered by something heavy. The women shrieked and gathered in a circle, but Enora stood strong.
“Hush now, it is simply Ainah come to join us,” she said.
She turned a withering frown on the women around her. They cowed under her glare and turned their eyes to the ground.
“It is not Ainah, but one of the Astra, who masquerade as any deity you wish to summon,” Kyrene pronounced. “She is false, just as the Astra are false, just as the Tuadan are false. Only Dominio is supreme, and you must bow to Him alone.”
Enora scoffed at her and the women around her joined her laughter, albeit nervously and with uneasy glances at Dag.
Dag decided it was time to speak.
“All of you who call on this false goddess or any others repent! If you have called on them in secret, if it is your cries that have brought the night creatures back to walk the land, repent now. For if you do not repent, you will be devoured by them.”
Enora strode forward without warning and raised a cane in the air. She lunged at Dag and would have struck him with it, but his daughter was faster. Maelys threw herself at Enora and knocked the woman to the ground. She struggled to her feet and would have lunged again, but this time Kyrene stopped her in her tracks.
“I know who you are,” she announced in a stern voice, startling to Lucius who had never heard her speak other than softly. “You are the one who leads others astray, teaching them to practice your sorcery and your witchcraft, ensnaring them in your web of spells. You shall never do so again: I declare your day is over witch. Repent, and forsake your sorcery or face the wrath of Dominio.”
Enora puckered up her face in a mask of pure malice. She raised her cane at Kyrene now and threw it at the seer. But Kyrene raised her hand and the cane fell abruptly to the ground in mid flight before it ever reached her. The women gasped and Enora was momentarily stunned. She saw the looks of doubt the women cast on her and she turned her attention to the gate.
“Come in, I say, come in at once!” she shrieked in a piercing voice that to Lucius seemed to penetrate to the core of his being.
Kyrene whirled around to the gate and raised another hand.
“I say be gone, foul spirit; be gone and never come back!”
Enora raced over to her and attempted to push her aside. But Kyrene stood her ground; she was younger and stronger and she did not flinch from the attack. She faced Enora and the look of fury on her face brought fear to all who beheld it. Kyrene’s face had taken on a strange glow, and her hazel eyes blazed with a fire that burned all those present with its intensity.
She turned to Enora and locked eyes with her.
“Your day is done witch. Repent or face the wrath of Dominio for your sorcery and leading people back into idolatry.”
Enora refused to budge but so did Kyrene. A sudden knocking at the gate startled them both and they turned simultaneously to face it.
Dag came forward now, but Kyrene motioned for him to stop. He waited a moment, listening. And then he knew what he must do.
“People of Leith and Annick,” he thundered in his booming voice. “You have a visitor who has come to call, one whom you have summoned, here by your own invitation. Do you want to invite them in? Or do you wish them to leave and never return?”
He stared at the villagers, their faces white with fear and uncertainty. Some of them looked to Enora for guidance, while others were looking at Kyrene whom Enora could not cower.
He decided the time had come for more drastic measures.
“Very well,” he said in a voice that was low yet somehow menacing. “Allow me to decide for you.”
He turned to the gates and lifted his hands.
“Dominio, I call on You to work your will. Let them see what they have done.”
He flung out his arms to the gates and called out, “Enter!”
Suddenly the gates blew outward off their hinges and the pacing steps drew nearer. A woman screamed and Enora turned white. Kyrene faced the unseen menace and ran to take her stand. Dirk, Maelys, and Lucius stood behind her, linking their arms together to form a wall of flesh to prevent Enora from approaching her once more.
“You have no power here except what they give you! Do not enter until you are bidden to do so!” Kyrene declared to the unseen presence.
The footsteps ceased at once; and the villagers gasped.
Enora suddenly cried out.
“Ainah! I see her beautiful face!”
And indeed, a face had suddenly materialized, and slowly the figure of a tall woman took shape before their eyes. The women exclaimed and started to bow, but Kyrene did not give them an opportunity.
“Let me show you who your Ainah really is!” she shouted
She turned to the spirit that now towered before them to a great height with a beatific smile on its lovely face.
“Unmask yourself and remove that false identity!” she commanded.
Without warning the face appeared to melt, and beneath it was seen a visage so hideous that the women screamed. It was only the semblance of a face, with the flesh melted away and red glowing eyes that glared f
iercely at those assembled. Beside it stood another demonic presence, this one even taller and more frightening, the complexion pasty white and with lips of blood red, that stretched out grasping hands with pointed nails resembling claws toward the villagers.
Dag challenged them once again.
“What will you do? Will you invite them in? Or will you repent of your idolatry and return to Dominio? Invite them in and they will destroy you, even as they have devoured your land, turning it brown as they feed on it, just as they would feed on your souls. Repent, and Dominio will forgive you and bless you and turn His face upon you once more.
“What shall it be?”
Lucius did not hear even a bird singing, and realized they had stopped when the footsteps approached. Not even the sound of a child was heard as they waited. He began to fear that they would never resolve anything when the first villager came to Dag.
It was Laig who came first, a shamefaced Laig who knelt before Dag and lowered his head.
“I repent,” he whispered.
Niamh looked from her husband to her still defiant sister and struggled almost visibly.
She came forward and knelt beside Laig.
One by one they came, all who had turned back to their idols and forsaken Dominio. It did not include the entire village, for not all had turned. But it was at least a third of the village that came and repented, kneeling before Dag.
The last to come was Melisande.
Dag turned back to the spot where the footsteps had stopped and the Astra appeared.
“And now what shall you do?” he asked the villagers. “Shall they be sent away?”
“Aye, send them away!” they cried with one voice.
With a triumphant laugh cast in the direction of Enora, the only one who did not repent, Dag turned back to the silent walkers.
“Agents of the Astra, tormenters of mankind, I order you by the authority of Dominio to be gone from here. You shall trouble this place no longer. I cast you away and order you never to return.”
A white vapor rose where the Astra stood, and they suddenly vanished from sight. A wind rose and a plume of smoke appeared where the footsteps had stopped, and the smell of acrid smoke permeated the air, leaving a foul odor that choked and gagged those who watched. It emanated from the Astra and was directed at Dag, but he gathered himself to his full height, took a deep breath, and blew it out with a mighty heave at the smoke. It hung suspended for a few minutes, but as he continued to blow it slowly dissipated and all that was left was a wisp that drifted slowly to the ground where he stepped on it and scattered the ashes of its remains.
Chapter XXIX
A Choice
The next day dawned with a renewed radiance, as if the darkness that had held Eirinia in its clutch had fled before the coming of dawn. The birdsong was sweeter, the sky bluer, and even the grass seemed to have shed some of its brown and taken on once again the green tint for which the land was famous.
The Adalbart family and their friends did not retire until long after the sun had set, so great was their excitement over the events that transpired at Summer Festival. For Dag and Kyrene, it was a victory shared, for as he said, he could not have faced their enemy alone. It would not have been possible to cope with the hostility of the women while facing the Astra.
Nolwenn glowed with a return of the radiant innocence that had once defined her sweet countenance. She was reluctant to leave Dag’s side, and kept addressing him as Father as if, so Lucius thought, she could not say the word too often. Brand said little, but his pride in his father was evident. Dirk and Maelys both lost the look of anxiety that had weighted them down in recent months, restoring them to the glow of youth.
Judoc and Brit were quieter in their rejoicing, but peace seemed to permeate their faces and cast warmth and light into the darkened hut. Now that the women of the village had repented of their idolatry, both women looked forward to sweet fellowship with their friends once more and an ending of the armed truce that had been prevalent in recent relations with the ladies of Leith and Annick.
Lucius alone had mixed feelings: he was genuinely happy that the villagers had repented of their idolatry and turned back to Dominio. He was thrilled to have witnessed the power of Dominio as manifested through Dag and Kyrene. But he knew also that there was now no need for Kyrene to remain in Eirinia and would thus depart quite soon, and it was his duty to escort her back to Solone.
Never would he have thought that he would be reluctant to leave a provincial backwater such as Eirinia. Why, the place did not have a single large city, it was merely a collection of small villages with farms scattered in between! Nor would he call himself a farmer, and still struggled as he helped Dirk with the work. Now that Dag and Brand had returned there was less for him to do, but he still kept busy and took whatever task was assigned him, as he did not wish to appear lazy to these men who worked so hard.
But he had reached the end of the road in Eirinia. He must leave when Kyrene did or declare his feelings openly to Maelys, who did not seem to be aware of him. And he could not stay on in the hope of winning her heart; no one would be deceived if he offered to stay on and help with the work. True, the Adalbarts still lacked two men now that Cort had left, and they still felt the loss of Brenus. But who would really believe him if he said he wished to stay and help, if indeed they did not laugh themselves to death at the absurdity of the offer?
Now as he rose early and watched the sun come up, there appeared no solution to Lucius. He must go with Kyrene and never declare his love to Maelys, or stay on under a feeble pretext that all would see through and become a joke when she married another. And he knew that there were many who wished to woo her, but she would have none of them, for a reason that he did not fathom.
Lucius had never been as devout as his sister Felicia; indeed, one could not really call him devout at all. But in the time he had spent in Eirinia, witnessing the spreading of the darkness and listening to Kyrene speak of prophecy and mysteries and all the knowledge that she possessed of Dominio and the Kingdom, his heart had gradually opened and he found himself praying more, and entrusting his heart to Dominio. Now as he puzzled over his course, he dropped to his knees in the grass still wet with dew and poured out his heart.
“Oh, Dominio, I praise You for Your goodness. I know that You know all things, and wish only for my good. I submit my course to You, only show me the way I should go and I shall take it.”
He felt a warm peace course through him, and a gentle breeze touched his cheek almost in a caress. The touch comforted him; it was as if Dominio knew and understood his dilemma and truly cared about his tortured feelings. He lingered on his knees and breathed in the soft morning air, so cool and refreshing before the heat of the day set in.
A sound behind him brought him abruptly to his feet. He darted a look behind him and saw Kyrene approaching. She was not looking at him but gazing up into the sky with an expression of rapture, and he knew she had come to this spot not to find him, but to seek Dominio. He thought about trying to slip away unseen while she looked elsewhere when she spotted him and flashed him a bright smile of greeting.
“Isn’t the day lovely! And the sun is all the brighter after the night just passed. Praise be to Dominio for His deliverance of this land!”
She seemed as happy as a bride on her wedding day, her eyes glowed with a soft light and her smile was tender. Lucius knew that her commitment to Dominio was total, and that it had cost her greatly over the years. But on this day it seemed that she cared not about the cost, because the reward was enough.
Kyrene suddenly noticed the sadness in his eyes, and she hastened toward him.
“Lucius, it will be alright, you will see,” she soothed in her soft voice. “Dominio will show you what to do; you must trust Him.”
He chuckled inwardly as he realized that the seers did not always need to be told in words the dilemmas of their friends, for the Spirit of Dominio revealed the problems of others to them, and they took the tro
ubles to Dominio in prayer.
It was at the midday meal that Kyrene made her announcement. They were all assembled and talking and laughing, although not with the exuberance of the previous night. For now the triumph of victory had waned, to be replaced with a deep thankfulness for the protection and care of Dominio in the midst of the storm they had just passed through. It was in the midst of this that she chose to speak.
“My friends, I can not tell you how delighted I am that Dominio has worked everything out. It is a joy to see old friends such as Laig and Niamh give their hearts back to Dominio. I do not know what will become of Enora, for she is stubborn and her heart has hardened, and Dominio alone may be the only One to reach her in her wickedness.”
Her words made them all sober, and they bowed their heads as they recalled the events of the night before. But Kyrene did not permit them to dwell on them.
“And now the time has come for me to leave. It will make me sad, but I must return to my own home and my people. I shall leave next week, as soon as I can book passage on a ship. I wish to thank you for all of your hospitality during my extensive stay. And know that I shall dearly miss all of you.”
The announcement brought wails of protest from Maelys and Dirk, who had spent much time with her and enjoyed her company. Nolwenn was more subdued, but the announcement appeared to take her by surprise. No one noticed at first that Lucius said nothing; until Brand mentioned his name.
“And Lucius? You shall go with Kyrene?” he asked as his eyes darted back and forth between them.
There was a sudden gasp from Maelys, quickly stifled as she took a sip from her mug of water. She looked down at the table and said nothing.
Lucius attempted a bright smile that shone with artificiality.
“Well, yes, I am Kyrene’s escort so it is expected that I shall leave when she does.”